River Avenue Blues

Sabathia falters again as Yanks fall to Rays

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Source: FanGraphs

Winning three in a row was just too much ask, I suppose. The Yankees used a familiar script to lose to the Rays on Friday night, taking a lead early before giving it back and putting together a late-rally that fell just short. Let’s recap…

  • The Lead: The Yankees managed to get on the scoreboard first, with a second inning single from Steve Pearce that plated Russell Martin with two outs. That little flare to shallow center all but guarantees that Pearce will continue to get regular at-bats against lefties these next two weeks. For shame.
  • Four Losses: For the first time since he signed in New York, the Yankees have lost four straight CC Sabathia starts. The left-hander turned in another underwhelming performance, which again featured a blown lead (just the one run though) and four runs in 6.2 innings. Know what the worst part is? Sabathia threw first pitch strikes to 25 of 29 (!!!) hitters, which is just insane. Off-the-charts good. Yet the Rays still tagged him for six hits and two walks. CC just has to be better. There’s no other way to put it. They’re going nowhere without him.
  • Fight Back: The Yankees did not go quietly into the night after Tampa took the lead, getting a run back on Curtis Granderson’s solo homer in the fifth (off the top off the right-center field wall) and two back on Alex Rodriguez two-run shot in the eighth. David Price has allowed just three homers to lefties this season, and two have been by Granderson. The other was hit by Robinson Cano. A-Rod’s shot was a no-doubter off Joel Peralta, hitting the facing of the second deck in right.
  • Leftovers: Eduardo Nunez made some very nice defensive plays early in the game, including two ranging into the hole to his right. Then he whiffed on a routine ground ball with two outs in the ninth that led to an insurance run … speaking of bad defense, this won’t be one for the Russell Martin highlight reel. He let three balls get by him (two were called wild pitches, but one of those went right though his legs) and Tampa stole three bases in three attempts … Derek Jeter (two singles) was the only Yankee with multiple hits, though A-Rod (homer and walk) reached twice as well … the Rays scored six runs in this game after scoring six runs total while getting swept in Baltimore over the weekend … Jerry Meals got in the way of a would-be double (it was a single instead), the second time in a week he’s screwed something up and cost the Yankees in some way.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. The Orioles are out on the West Coast and if they beat the Athletics they’ll have sole possession of and they lost to the Athletics so they’re still tied with New York for first place in the AL East. The Rays are three back. The Yankees will look to get back into the win column on Saturday afternoon when Ivan Nova makes what I hope is a triumphant return to the rotation. He’ll be opposed by Jamie Shields. Check out RAB Tickets for some last-minute deals if you want to catch the game.

Flores & Almonte carry Thunder to Game 3 win

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Got some notes…

  • OF Tyler Austin was dealing with some kind of ankle problem and had an MRI today. Doesn’t sound like anything too serious, because he was scheduled to play tonight until about a half-hour before first pitch.
  • C Gary Sanchez was named to the Minor League All-Star Team by Baseball America. Sanchez led all minor league backstops with 18 homers this season.
  • C R.J. Baker is on Great Britain’s qualifying roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Good for him.

Double-A Trenton (11-7 win over Akron) Akron still leads the best-of-five Championship Series two games to one … LHP Nik Turley gets the ball in Game Four tomorrow
CF Adonis Garcia & 3B David Adams: both 2-4, 2 R — Garcia drew a walk … Adams got hit by a pitch and plated a run
LF Ramon Flores: 3-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB — been arguably their best hitter in the postseason
RF Zoilo Almonte: 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (fielding) — ditto the Flores comment
SS Addison Maruszak: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
C J.R. Murphy: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
1B Kevin Mahoney & 2B Walt Ibarra: both 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K — Ibarra stole a base
DH Rob Segedin: 0-4, 3 K
RHP Mikey O’Brien: 2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 WP, 3/1 GB/FB — 35 of 53 pitches were strikes (66%) … not a great finish to the season, the last few weeks have been rough
RHP Graham Stoneburner: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 4/0 GB/FB — 25 of 35 pitches were strikes (71%)
RHP Tommy Kahnle: 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 K — just six of his 18 pitches were strikes (33%), and I’m surprised it was that many
RHP Branden Pinder: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GB/FB — nine of 15 pitches were strikes … he escaped Kahnle’s bases loaded, no outs jam in a one run game and touched 96
RHP David Aardsma: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 2/0 GB/FB — had a tiny bit more on him earlier
RHP Mark Montgomery: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0/1 GB/FB — only eight of 18 pitches were strikes (44%)
RHP Ryan Pope: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1/0 GB/FB — nine of 15 pitches were strikes

The season is over for Triple-A Empire State, High-A Tampa, Low-A Charleston, Short Season Staten Island, and the Rookie GCL Yanks. Empire State lost their first round playoff series to Pawtucket while the other four failed to make the postseason.

Aardsma throws scoreless inning in latest rehab outing

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Right-hander David Aardsma threw a perfect inning in his latest minor league rehab game with Double-A Trenton tonight, striking out one and getting two ground balls. He topped out at 90 with the fastball and threw eight of 12 pitches for strikes. Aardsma’s been struggling since his late-June setback, so this is obviously his best outing of the second half. I still don’t think he’ll join the big league team before the season ends, but even if he does he’s unlikely to have any impact.

Game 144: Three Straight?

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(J. Meric/Getty)

The Yankees are back in the Bronx for the final homestand of the season — they play three games against the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium to close out the season, but I don’t really consider that a “homestand,” per se — and in come the Rays looking to gain ground in the AL East race. Actually, I’m sure Tampa is just looking to gain ground in any race at this point. They’re four games out of both the division and wildcard spots and just need to start winning, like the Yankees. After going a month without winning two consecutive games, can the Bombers make it three straight tonight? Here’s the starting nine…

DH Derek Jeter
RF Nick Swisher
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
C  Russell Martin
LF Andruw Jones
CF Curtis Granderson
1B Steve Pearce
SS Eduardo Nunez

LHP CC Sabathia

Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

Yankees offered Nate McLouth minor league deal

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Via Joel Sherman, the Yankees offered Nate McLouth a minor league contract after the Pirates released him back at the end of May. The outfielder instead took the same offer from the Orioles because he saw an easier path to the big leagues.

Coming into today, the 30-year-old McLouth was hitting .279/.350/.418 with Baltimore after being called up in early-August. Chris Dickerson was on the minor league DL and the extent of Brett Gardner’s injury was still unclear at the time of McLouth’s free agency, so the Yankees were clearly looking to add outfield depth. They wound up signing Kosuke Fukudome a few weeks later and eventually traded for Ichiro Suzuki.

The RAB Radio Show: September 14th, 2012

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We’re talking about:

  • The late trend of treading water. It’s better than completely collapsing, of course, but the inability to get in a groove has been frustrating.
  • The return of Andy Pettitte and how he might get in shape for the postseason. But at this point, is he even the Game 3 starter?
  • The schedule the rest of the way. It’s easy, sure, but the Yanks can’t take anything for granted.
  • The crazy playoff picture. This would be nuts even if there were just one Wild Card.

Podcast run time 37:24

Here’s how you can listen to podcast:

[audio:http://riveraveblues.com/podcasts/TheRABRadioShow091412.mp3]

Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (17.1MB)

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